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Saturday, 8 July 2017

Being a travel blogger, we are often away a lot and it worries me about leaving my house insecure. It used to be fine because I could get up with Tilly and maybe Kim and we would decide to go away over night. It would be fine because there was always another teenager staying at home. Now, these days we are living on our own, so when we go away our home can be left unattended for a day or two, with only occasional popping in from the older kids.

I always make sure that my house insurance is up to date but also looking at other options for home security. my friend Anita at www.thehousethatneverrests.com has recently purchased a home security system, so now of course - I want one! One that I have been looking at is Smarthome Panasonic, which has a system that you can build on as your family or situation changes in life. It is a system that comes with a hub, an indoor camera, 2 door sensors and a wall plug timer (smart plug). The system is then set up around your home and you have peace of mind when you go away.

Wednesday, 28 June 2017

When we travelled Europe last summer we booked about 90% of the accommodation from Booking.com. We were happy with our choices apart from one accommodation in Budapest. So on my recent trip to Basel, we booked Rent-A-Home Eptingerstrassefrom Booking.com and paid in full for the 'apartment'.

Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Oh my days, we have finally done it! We have booked to go back to Turkey in October. Going to Turkey is quite a big thing for me because I am a single parent and I go out about once every 3 years for a good old piss up down the pub. When I go to Turkey with my friends all we do is go to the bar or lie on a sun lounger around the pool. Two weeks of child-free bliss where I can let rip and be Vicky instead of Mummy. We always book our holidays through Thomas Cook but this year they seemed to have hiked the price up ALOT! So instead we have booked through Holiday Gems.

Monday, 15 May 2017

A Kindle is quite high on our list of things to take when we go away, It is so good to keep Tilly occupied whilst we wait for aeroplanes or trains and with most modes of transports having WIFI these days, she can use it where ever she goes. Tilly has the Kids Kindle and it has a pink foam protector around it, this helps it to 'bounce'. Believe me, she has dropped it so many times and it has never broken. Today we have joined some other bloggers to offer an amazing prize of Fire HD 8 Tablet (8gb) but a Fire Kids Edition Tablet (in pink or blue) alongside some accessories.

Once again a whole host of amazing bloggers have teamed up to offer you the chance to win a great prize (something we couldn't do individually), but who are this group of amazing people; well check them out:

Wednesday, 10 May 2017

I think it's important for kids of all ages to experience all sorts of different holidays and taking them to festivals is all part of a learning experience for them. When the older kids were little, I took Bethany to Glastonbury, I was surprised at how family orientated they were. Now festivals are getting more popular and they get the whole family involved. One festival is Camp Bestival. Camp Bestival is running from 27th - 30th July this year and It is the perfect way to end the school year. A family holiday and festival to go with it.

Saturday, 6 May 2017

Hi. I'm Nicola, I'm 31 and live in Liverpool with my husband and our 11 month old baby Dex. I am a hardcore travel addict, but my big travel plans have had to be put on hold for the past year while I grew a baby, nurtured it and saved a huge chunk of my pitiful maternity wage in order to buy a new home for us all to live in. I have been all of the globe and have so many places in mind to visit over the next 30 years. I am so excited to take Dex on our future travels with us and believe that a well-travelled child will be more open to new experiences, cultures and languages

What's the name of your blog?
My blog is called Mummy to Dex. It’s a parenting and lifestyle blog that focuses on my journey as a new Mum to my little boy Dexter James.

Friday, 5 May 2017

As my older kids were growing up, I had always had an interest in taking them to Scandinavia. I don't even know why – maybe it was the clean living lifestyle that they seem to have. But I never got there, maybe it was because there were 3 kids at the time and it seemed a bit expensive but it just never happened. Then after Tilly was born things seemed to change and when Tilly was 4 years old, Zach went to live in Norway for a season on a golf course. Of course like any mum letting her son go was extremely hard, after all, he is my only boy! But it also gave me the opportunity to take the leap and visit Norway.

So one morning in May, I decided that it was time to put my big girl pants on and take Tilly on her first aeroplane trip. I suppose I am like many other people and I hate flying. I hate the takeoff but once we are in the air, I am fine. Until I look down and see a huge expanse of sea underneath me. But the flight to Oslo- Torp only took about 90 minutes and we were there. Flying over Norway was a bit surreal, there were fur trees EVERYWHERE. We arrived in a country that I had never been to, couldn't speak the language and didn't know where I was going. I suppose it was the start of a big adventure for us.

Wednesday, 3 May 2017

Hello, I’m Jennifer and I blog at http://www.jenniferslittleworld.com about all the things that we get up to as a family. I live on the South Coast with my two children Harry and Mia, and as a family we love to travel whether abroad or closer to home. We are lucky enough to get away several times a year and I love sharing the places that we’ve visited.

Saturday, 29 April 2017

Devon Mama is run by Hayley - a 30-year-old mama, wife and recovering sleep addict. Living with my husband, baby and the world’s bounciest dog in rural Devon, She can usually be found attempting to cook, Googling everything and embracing the strange new world that is parenting. Add in a house with ‘a lot of potential’ and a return to my ‘real’ job as a Company Director and it’s organised chaos at the best of times.

What's the name of your blog? My blog is called Devon Mama (https://devonmama.com), I felt it summed up who I was and gave people an idea of what to expect… I’m a mum, I live in Devon!

Wednesday, 26 April 2017

I love reading about different people's travel ideas, there are so many places to visit and everyone's idea of a holiday is different, I have asked some different travel bloggers to share their ideas of holidaying with or without their families. So over the next few weeks, we will feature some amazing bloggers, please check them out, follow and like them. To kick start it all off, we are starting with highlighting our blogs and the travel that we love to do.What's the name of your blog?www.beingtillysmummy.co.uk and www.tillystravellingtelegram.co.uk

Why did you start it up? I started the travel blog because Tilly wanted to travel in Europe in the summer and I thought a new travel blog for our adventures was in order.

Thursday, 20 April 2017

Train prices seem to be increasing all the time, yet the travel isn't improving! We travel on the trains quite a lot and all the time we are asked how we manage to use the train all the time. So here are a few tips on getting the cheapest price on your train tickets. After all, do we really want to give the train companies too much money? This post was originally written for our other blog www.beingtillysmummy.co.uk.

Friday, 14 April 2017

Kent has so many different places to visit, It has so many hidden gems and you don't have to pay a fortune to have a good day out at some of the places we feature on here. We are lucky to be able to live in the ''Garden of England'' and we have so much to do on our own doorstep!Dover Castle

This Castle was built by Henry 11, but was used more by Henry V11. It can be found on Castle Hill overlooking Dover and is well worth a visit. It will cost you £19.40 for an adult and £11.60 for a child but you are better off buying a yearly membership for £54 for a year and you can go to all the English heritage places over a whole year. Dover castle history covers hundreds of years and goes right up until the second world war. There is a lot of history and we can never get it all done in one day, so we do parts of it at a time. There is something for people of all ages to do and the view of Dover port is magnificent from Admiralty lookout.

Wednesday, 5 April 2017

I have been lucky to go to New York with my older kids, it is on my list of things to do with Tilly but it hasn't happened yet! We went a few years ago and the digital camera that I took was very poor quality and I have made the choice to fill the post with images from Pixabay. Here is a list of family friendly things to do in NYC.

The Rockefeller Building

Of course one of the most iconic things to do when you're visiting New York is to go up the Empire State building, but me being me I like to do things differently. When we went to New York we were only there for five days so everything had to be crammed in, I didn't want to be waiting hours in a queue to get up the Empire State building. So we chose to go up the Rockefeller building, not only was it cheaper but there was so much less of a queue to get in. You get the views just like you would if you went up the Empire State building at a better price. To get to the Top Of the Rock, it will cost you $34 for adults, $28 for children 6-12 years of age and $32 for OAPs. Its open from 8 am - Midnight, daily and can be found at 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY

Wednesday, 29 March 2017

Three of my kids were born in the Portsmouth area, We lived in a village a few miles away from the city and it was lovely. We would go to the sea front and spend hours making childhood memories. It was a place that seemed to need a lot of money put in to the area and modernise it - and that is just what happened. Nowadays Portsmouth sea front is bustling with the Gunwharf Quays shopping centre that is filled with over 90 designer outlets at affordable prices and the Spinnaker tower. Portsmouth has become one of the most desirable places to visit on the south coast.

Wednesday, 22 March 2017

Budapest is by far one of our most favourite cities in the world, We first went there is August last year as part of our European adventure and we are desperate to get back there. We had never been to Hungary before and we didn't really know what to expect when we got to Budapest, So we wanted to make a post of some of the things to know before you go. You can read about our trip here

Monday, 13 March 2017

Travelling with kids can be quite difficult, especially if they are still little and don't like to sit still. I was lucky with Tilly, she has always travelled, it might have only been in this country until she was 4 years old, but she does like travelling and exploring new places. She is scared a little bit of flying but once she realises that she isn't going to fall out of the plane, when it banks, then she is fine. I have always got her to carry her own little back pack when ever we go anywhere, even if its just for the day.

Saturday, 4 March 2017

Everyone has their favourite places to visit, I suppose its a bit like a travel bucket list. I will probably never get to visit these places but it is so good to have hopes and aspirations to look forward to. So here are the five places that I want to take Tilly to.

Turkey

She has actually asked if she can go to Turkey, it has been on her wish list for about a year now. I know a lot of people say that it is a dangerous place to visit at the moment, but its a load of rubbish really. Turkey is hot and beautiful, the majority of the people are fabulous and you can get some great bargains if you go shopping out there. I go to Antalya with friends as an adults only holiday, I haven't been to any other parts of the country so going there would also be nice.

Friday, 3 February 2017

Booking a holiday in the school break! MEH!! have you seen how much the price increases? This is my biggest bug bear when I book a holiday, It is always so expensive, sometimes twice the price. That is what lead us to book a holiday that we designed our self last summer and go Interrailing. It cost us as much as a week in an all inclusive destination for a week, but we were gone for almost 4 weeks.

Friday, 13 January 2017

As I am a Woman/Mum, I often write about things to do with kids when we visit different destinations, as a single mum is it easy to forget the men. So here is a guide of a few things for men to do in the beautiful city of Vienna. With men are taking more and more pride in their appearance, it is important for them to find good quality grooming and menswear so for something to wear, Strictly Herrmann in the second district only stocks menswear. This cool concept store on Taborstrasse carries selected labels, alongside cool accessories including eyewear and bags, as well as books, fragrances, skincare products, gin and the latest must-have gadgets. You could get want you wanted all under one roof. Leave the wife and kids and go off to do a spot of shopping yourself.

.At La Moustache on Kirchengasse, here you will find elegant sporty fashion from Italy and France. Stylish shirts, trousers, jackets, shoes, ties and even tuxedos line the racks and shelves. ‘Classic, but never boring’ is the philosophy here.

Franz und Gloria, a barbershop in the seventh district, also includes a unisex hairdressing salon. Men and women’s stylists use sustainable care products from Vienna-based company Less is More, whose creations only contain certified organic herbal ingredients. Male patrons can look forward to an expert shave or professional beard styling service – there are no appointments here, but espresso and whiskey are de rigueur.

Brothers’ Barbershop on Neubaugasse, also in the seventh district, is just for men. The cosy vintage interiors provide a fitting setting for the fine art of male grooming – with everything from a simple trim and shave, to face massages on offer. The salon has also turned into something of a hang out where people come for a chat about the issues of the day over coffee and whiskey, as well as to ensure they look their best.

So gentlemen, next time the Mrs suggests a trip to vienna, keep this blog post in mind and have your own bit of retail therapy because there is nothing better than coming home from a break away and feeling so much better than when you arrived there.